Method of repairing rail joints



March 20, 1934. c. A DALEY 1,951,727

METHOD OF REPAIRING RAIL JOINTS Filed Sept. 24. 1932 a B Y A TTORNE YPatented Mar. 20, 1934 PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF REPAIRING RAIL JOINTSCharles A. Daley, Hornell, N. Y., assignor to Air Reduction Company,Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationSeptember 24, 1932, Serial No. 634,664

6 Claims.

My invention relates to the correcting or repairing of a bad conditionof a rail joint or connection resulting from the wear between the underside of a rail head or fishing surface and the joint bars due to themovement of trains over the joint.

If this loose condition of the joint bars is allowed to remain, thebolts will soon become loose, the rails will batter more rapidly andjoint ties will be shattered, and poor riding and unsafe track willresult.

This unsatisfactory condition may be corrected by replacing worn jointbars by reformed or new bars, or by sawing off the ends of the rails tosecure new fishing surfaces and then applying new bars, or by applyingshims at the points of greatest wear.

All these methods are costly since they require removal of the bars andreplacing the same with new or reformed bars, and in the case of sawingoff the rail ends new or fit rails have to be laid and the old railshave to be taken up and transported to a central point where they can besawed .off and bolt holes drilled.

My method of correcting this condition is to loosen the joint bar boltsa small amount so as to permit a small gap to exist between the fishingsurface of the rail and the joint bar, then heat one side of the railhead within the length of the joint bar sufficiently so that it can beforged in and down at the same time to fill the gap between the rail andthe loosened bar, and then perform this forging operation. Thisoperation is repeated on both sides of the two rails within the extentof the joint bars.

Since the amount of wear is comparatively small in relation to the massof metal in the rail head, this operation will not affect the runningsurface of the rail.

A special tool to fit over the edge of the ball of the rail is desirablewhen using a sledge to force the rail head in and down.

The same results can, to a certain extent, be accomplished by exertingthe pressure horizontally on the side of the ball of the rail, andtherefore is accomplished partly by my method of reforming rail ends,disclosed in application Serial No. 574,554, filed November 12, 1931.

In the accompanying drawing, forming part hereof:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a rail joint, indicating wear between thefishing surfaces of the rail heads and the joint bars, showing a portionof a forging tool applied to one of the rails; and

Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section, illustrating in full lines theheating of one side of the rail head and, in dotted lines, the forgingoperation, showing how the heated metal of the head is forced to form anew fishing surface in tight contact with the top of the joint bar.

I The drawing illustrates portions of two railroad rails 2-, 2, at thejoint, and the joint plates 3, 3, which are drawn by bolts 4 between theflanges of the rail and the under surfaces or fishing surfaces of therail heads 5. Wear takes place either in these fishing surfaces or atthe tops of the joint bars, but usually in both, and

it may extend substantially throughout the length of the joint, or itmay be localized or be more pronounced at certain regions, asillustrated in Fig. 1.

It is desirable to loosen the bolts as previously stated, though thismay not always be required. One side of the ball of one of the rails isheated by the fiame of an oxyacetylene torch 6 or by another suitableheating agency, to a proper forging heat. In doing this, it is advisableto apply the heat more especially to the lower part of the ball.However, the heating may be more general. Then a suitable tool 7 isapplied to the ball and hammered by a sledge 8, so that the metal of therail head is forged in and down. Naturally, the force may be applied inother ways. The dotted line 9 in Fig. 2 illustrates, in a somewhatexaggerated manner, how sufficient metal is displaced, without impairingthe tread surface, to close the wear space between the top of the barand the under part of the rail head. The new fishing surface thus formedis marked 10.

The heating and forging are repeated as often as is necessary along oneside of the joint, after which the other side is treated in a similarmanner. Finally, the bolts are tightened if any looseness remains.

It will be perceived that the method is quite flexible, and that, byacting at different regions within the length of the joint, irregularspacings between the tops of the joint bars and the bottoms of the railheads can be easily dealt with. It would be difficult to restore as gooda fit by merely removing and reforming the joint bars. However, it willbe evident that my method and the method of reforming joint bars may becombined, and that there may be advantage in so doing if the wear issevere.

In such a case, the joint bars are removed and reformed in the knownmanner, and are then replaced, after which the rail heads are heated andworked in the manner that has been described to complete the adjustmentbetween the joint bars and the fishing surfaces. In this application ofthe invention, the joint bars may be reformed substantially to theextent that they would be if this were the only method of correcting thecondition of the joint, in which event comparatively little forging ofthe rail heads will be required to insure excellent results, or theextent to which the bars are reformedv may be approximate or slight,leaving more work to be done on the rail heads.

A less satisfactory procedure would be to forge the rail heads first,and then remove the joint bars and reform them to some extent. Thismight be done if it should be found, after working the rail head as muchas would be permissible, that sufficient adjustment'had not beeneffected.

The term joint bars includeslvarious forms of-joint pieces, known asjoint bars, angle bars, joint plates, fish plates, etc.

I" claim:

1. A method of repairing; rail joints to correct a -conditionof wearbetween the joint bars and the, rail heads, which comprises heating therail head, and applying force to substantially adjust the-under side ofthe rail head to the top of the jointzbar.

2. A method of repairing rail joints to correctacondition of wearbetween the joint bars andqthe rail heads, which comprises applying heatto the side of the rail head and force to produce permanent downwarddisplacement of the under side of the head to substantially take upspace between the head and the joint bar.

3. A method of repairing rail joints to correct a condition of wearbetween the joint bars and the rail heads, which comprises loosening thejoint bar bolts, heating the rail head, and forcing metal of the railhead downward substantially to close the gap between the fishing surfaceof the rail head and the top of the joint bar.

4. A method of repairing rail joints to correct a condition of wearbetween the joint bars and the rail heads, which comprises heating therail head, and forging it in and down, without impairing the runningsurface of the rail, into substantially close relation to the joint bar.

5. A method of repairing rail joints to correct a condition of wearbetween the joint bars and the rail heads, which comprises applying heatto the side of the rail head, and driving metal of the rail head in anddown into substantial adjustment with the joint bar.

6. A method of repairing rail joints to correct a condition of wearbetween the joint bars and the rail heads, which comprises removing andreforming the joint bars, replacing them, heating the rail heads, and bya forging operation on the rail heads bringing the under sides of therail heads into substantially close relation to the tops of the reformedjoint bars.-

CHARLES A. DALEY;

